DP Unforgiveable
by Deathcomes4u
Summary: The start of something very strange. Ghost napping and distress, and something happens that may tear Danny and the whole Fenton family apart, from the inside out. Sometimes forgiveness is not enough. Angst ensues.
1. Chapter 1

Danny was awoken by that same annoying ghost for the fifth time that week and he had had it.  
"Oh that's it, you're going down buddy!" He growled as he went ghost while sitting up in bed and chased the figment out of his room intangibly through the floor. It was a fast little spectre, but Danny was not letting it get away to wake him up again tomorrow.  
It headed through the kitchen and towards the basement...  
"Oh no you don't! You do NOT get to go back to the ghost zone THAT easily!" He said as it whizzed down the stairs. Danny hit the button next to the door. It was a new remote portal closing button in case of emergency. He heard the distant CLUNK that was the ghost portal doors closing, and then a small screech.  
"Ha! GOT you! Now where are you, you little..." Danny said triumphantly as he reached the basement. He floated in the middle of the lab, looking for the spectre, but it must have been intangible or hiding, because there was no sign of it. But Danny had a plan to lure it out. He jabbed the button on the control panel to open the portal again and quickly hovered in front of it.  
"You want to get back home buddy, you have to go through ME!" Danny said triumphantly, glowing green eyes darting around keenly for any sign of the ghost.  
He was concentrating so hard on spotting it; he didn't immediately register the thing that flew over his head like a lasso. By the time he did, it was yanked tightly around his neck and before he knew it, he was dragged backwards towards the ghost portal. In shock, he let loose a blast of ectoplasm, wondering if he wasn't surrounded by an intangible gang of ghosts. He struggled against the rope and managed to stay on the lab side of the portal for a few seconds, realising his struggle would soon be futile. He blasted a precise pattern on the opposite wall before he could barely breathe from the lasso and was hauled into the ghost portal.  
Danny faced his attackers angrily and the lasso slackened, but as it did, another was thrown around his leg, and another around his opposite wrist. Danny was infuriated by the onslaught. He let loose a blast of ecto energy at one of the strange spectres surrounding him. It was wearing a white lab coat and had a gaunt and rather scary face. Danny registered that there were at least 20 ghosts like this surrounding him, before two more lassos came towards him. He dodged them, realising that the other ropes had disconnected from him, yet the y had left tight rings of some sort bound to his neck, right wrist and left ankle. Danny didn't have time to inspect them.  
"Ok THATS it, you guys do NOT know what you're messing with... he threw darts of ecto-energy at them from his fingers as he spoke...I have not slept properly for a WHOLE FREAKIN WEEK! And NOW you are stopping me from catching the ONE ghost responsible. Believe me, you do NOT want to get between ME and my BED!!!" He said loudly, zapping away another Lasso. Suddenly he was grabbed from behind, and another Lasso wrapped itself around his left wrist. Danny growled angrily and zapped the stranger who had wrapped their arm around his neck, but in the meantime, the last lasso found its mark around his right ankle. Danny freed himself from the attacker, who backed off, smiling manically. Danny had a bad feeling about that smile, but he prepared to blast them all out of the way to return to the Lab. Suddenly, something wrapped itself around him, encasing his entire body like a giant closing fist. Danny struggled, realising it was a net, much like the ones Skulker used. He knew they were not too hard to break free from. He let loose as much ecto-energy as he could, but the instant he did, searing pain overcame his entire body. He thrashed, screaming in agony as pain like a wave of electricity seared through his consciousness. Even as he stopped using his power, the pain disappeared, but left him stiff and aching, and still trapped in the net. He realised the bands the lassos had left on him were still burning dully on his neck, wrists and ankles. "W-what...the..." he struggled to exclaim, though his voice rasped. He felt the strange metallic bands with glowing green wires on them. The green light went red whenever he touched them and they stung a little.  
Danny looked out, still cramped in the net, at the strange gang of scientist ghosts around him, who were laughing like madmen.  
"Who are you?! What the hell are you doing to me!? Let me GO!" Danny yelled hoarsely, but they just laughed now, and the one holding the rope and mechanism attached to his net, who was bald with a flaming spectral ponytail at the back of his head, merely said "You're OURS NOW!"  
He pressed a button on the firing mechanism attached to Danny's net. It sent a wave of ecto electric energy across the net lattice and it coursed through Danny, causing him to scream in unbearable agony again. It did not stop until he was in so much pain he was barely conscious.

"Danny, are you up yet? You'll be late for school!"  
Maddy Fenton made her way up the stairs, slightly annoyed. Danny had been late for school every day that week and seemed not to have slept all night every morning that she had to go in and force him out of bed.  
He was probably up most of the night playing computer games, Maddy decided she would have to do something about that tonight and ban him from his computer for a while.  
But when She opened his bedroom door, ready to let him have a piece of her motherly mind, she found to her surprise, he was not there.  
"Jaaack? Jaaazz, did either of you see Danny this morning?" She called from the landing.  
"Sorry honey, I just got up, I haven't seen him. Why, isn't he still asleep like he usually is when he should be getting ready to go to school?" Asked Jack Fenton, as he emerged from the kitchen in his pyjamas and nightcap, munching a bowl of cereal.  
"Danny isn't in his room? Oh.. Well...maybe he went to school early!" Jazz said a little overenthusiastically, knowing what he was probably up to and covering for him automatically.  
Maddy put her hands on her hips in an 'I hardly think so' expression. "I somehow doubt that Jazz, i'm afraid your brother isn't quite as keen on school as you are. Apart from that, his bag and all his school things are still in his room". Maddy explained, now a little bewildered.  
"Oh! Well i'm sure he isn't far, maybe he had to visit one of his friends early, I'll go call them and see if he's there!" Jazz said instantly, knowing that if Danny was anywhere, Sam or Tucker would probably know where. But for some reason, a bad feeling was niggling the back of Jazz's brain, and though she tried to ignore it, she was praying inside that Danny was OK. Though what trouble he could possibly be in this early in the morning was beyond her...

Danny was suddenly aware that he was being dragged along down a corridor. His body ached and head throbbed so much he couldn't lift it to see where he was or what was happening to him. Suddenly, they stopped, and Danny was thrown sideways into a very small room. He let out an "OOF!" of pain as he hit the hard ground, and heard, it seemed distantly, the sound of his cell door slam... for some part of him at least had realised where he was...  
It was like a jail corridor... many doors with little barred windows in them through which dim ghostly fluro light filtered from the white corridor.  
Danny tried to sit up, his swimming head regaining real consciousness. He supported himself on his elbows and rubbed his temples with his bound hands. He had little mobility, as the bonds they had lassoed on his wrists where now locked together by green beams, as were those on his ankles.  
"Oh this is just great... first Walker's jail, now mad scientist jail, what have I done to tick THEM off huh? I don't suppose it matters who you have and haven't met in the ghost zone, if your public enemy number one, you're free game..." Danny's head gave a nasty throb and he winced. He glared down at the metallic ghostly technology that held him captive. He realised, from his first escape attempt, that using his ghost powers set them off. They were like the spectre deflector... except they seemed to be run on ecto-electricity like everything else technological Danny had encountered in the ghost zone.  
Danny suddenly smacked himself on the forehead with his palm and immediately wished he hadn't, but it was so obvious he was surprised he hadn't done it straight away...  
Danny would just change back to a human and he would be able to phase through his bonds and out of the cell and be home free!  
Danny sat up and as naturally as ever willed himself to change...  
but the usual halo of light that would spread from his torso across his body, sparked and fizzled out as the bonds began emitting red jolts of lightning like electricity that stung Danny like biting snakes. He cried out in pain and immediately stopped trying to change back. He growled angrily in pain as his heart sank. It seemed he'd have to find a new means of escape...  
He tried intangibility, and was thrilled to find the bonds only lightly shocked him, but not unbearably, as he used the power. Unfortunately, when he tried to stick his hands through the door, he found the bonds had not gone intangible... they would not go through the door, and nor would they fit through the narrow gapped bars in the small window of the door. Danny went tangible again and punched the door angrily, then he sat back and massaged his sore knuckles, deciding not to keep hurting himself further as it wasn't helping.  
"Well... my only real hope now is Jazz, Sam and Tucker. I hope they still have the 'boooo'merang or something..."

"No, He's not here, but I have some idea what he might be doing... there's this ghost that keeps waking him up in the middle of the night, and he said yesterday if it came again he wouldn't rest until he caught it..." Sam said over her cell phone as she walked to school with Tucker. It hadn't surprised her to get Jazz's call asking if they knew where Danny was. Unfortunately, all either of them had was a vague idea. They hadn't seen or heard from him since the previous afternoon.  
"He better turn up though, because I told him yesterday I overheard Lancer talking about holding him back a year if he continues with lateness and absences... and I don't think Danny would blow that off just for a stupid little annoying spectre..." Sam continued in a slightly anxious tone.  
"I dunno..." cut in Tucker, "Danny doesn't always have his priorities straight, and I know if a ghost kept waking me up for an entire week, my first priority would be to catch it and blast it into last Halloween".  
"Well, if you guys see him, can you call me, cause I'll be blasting HIM into next Halloween, because now I have to make up an excuse so Mom and Dad don't get suspicious... thanks anyway..." Jazz hung up on the other end and Sam stowed her mobile away.  
"I hope he hasn't chased it into the ghost zone and gotten himself into trouble or something..." She said anxiously.  
"At one o'clock in the morning? What ghost is mad enough to be up and chasing Danny at that time of night, i'm pretty sure ghosts don't function well without at least some kind of sleep or hibernation or... whatever ghosts do..." Tucker said, but he too felt a pang of anxiety over Danny's absence, as he always did when he didn't know where his half ghost best friend was.


	2. Chapter 2

"RISE AND SHINE! Time to see what makes you scream!" Someone cackled through the door, waking Danny from his uncomfortable sleep. The door swung open and cold hands grabbed him. At first, Danny was so stiff, sore and drowsy from his sleeping on the hard floor, that he let himself be dragged like a rag doll, but as consciousness kicked in, so did his rebellious nature.  
"Get off me!" He yelled, squirming as hard as he could against the hold of two enormous thug ghosts in white coats. It was quite useless against their steely grips, but Danny didn't want to make their job easy anyway.  
He saw them get surlier with a sense of satisfaction and continued to struggle as hard as he could. He stopped very suddenly though as they came to an enormous laboratory... he knew that was what it was because it contained equipment not dissimilar from that in his own basement at home. But what disturbed him most were the large benches with straps and pointy things suspended above them. He was dragged over to one of these, and continued his difficult squirming, which did prove a problem for them now that they tried to strap him down. Danny actually managed to break free of them and he shot up into the air with a triumphant "HA!" before flying as fast as he could, with a thrill of exhilaration, toward the door.  
But just as he was about to reach it and make his break for freedom, he was hit with searing pain, as though he had just hit a ghost shield. He actually crashed into the nearest wall, toppling a metal trolley with empty glass beakers, which shattered and cut him. Danny lay in a tangled dazed mess, trying to discern what had happened. He now had a few cuts that stung and bled glowing green ecto-plasma, the ghost equivalent of blood.  
Danny was suddenly raised in the air upside down, against his will. He found he could not struggle against the invisible hold, and looking around he saw the bald, flame pony tailed scientist who had netted him before, holding up a remote that was controlling his bonds. Danny growled angrily, focussing properly. "Who are you? What are you doing, let me GO!" Danny yelled angrily at him, continuing to fight the invisible hold, though he knew it was a futile struggle. The scientist merely cackled and pressed a button on the remote he held in his hand.  
Danny screamed as agonising red lightning passed through him from the bonds. When it finally ceased, he was dropped back on the floor in a dazed and twitching heap. He groaned as his limp form was finally strapped down to one of the cold metal tables. He focused his swimming head once more on the scientist who loomed over him. "Who ARE you..." he growled again as his head throbbed. A wide, wicked smile spread across his pasty face. "I am Dr.Silvester Screech, a pioneer of ghostly research! And since I heard of Halfa's, I've been... DYING, to get my hands on one of you, because there's a curious phenomenon I believe you can cure..."  
"But before that, Danny Phantom, I intend to find out, what, makes, you, TICK..."the last few words were emphasised in a disturbingly emphatic manner, before he burst out in mad cackling laughter and grabbed one of the instruments hanging above Danny. A wave of true fear swept over Danny, because this time, it was horribly real... there was NO escape like there had been with his parallel mother when he had changed time.  
He would suffer these tests, molecule by molecule...

"Mr.Foley, Ms.Manson, the next time you see Mr.Fenton, tell him to see. Me." Lancer said in a very dire tone before slamming the classroom door shut behind them. Sam and Tucker gave each other a look of alarm and anxiety. Now they KNEW something wasn't right. It was lunchtime, and still no sign of Danny. Not a sight, not a note, not even a call. They ran into Jazz at her locker around the corner. She looked stressed and anxious. She spotted them, "Any sign of?..."   
Sam and tucker shook their heads.  
"Damn, I can't find him! I brought my parents spectre-scope, it hasn't picked up anything at ALL today, not even the box ghost." she explained, showing them what looked like a PDA with a very small satellite dish attached to the front. She threw it into her locker and shut the door in frustration.  
"Did you check down in the lab? Maybe he left a note." Sam suggested. "No, I didn't have time, mom rushed me out of the house before I had a chance, but we could do it now..."  
"Now? You mean, leave school during lunch? Isn't that against school rules?" Tucker said in slight alarm.  
"Since when have you two been against breaking school rules?" Jazz replied with her hands on her hips and one eyebrow raised. "We haven't, but since when were YOU willing to break them?" Sam said a little surprised. "Well, if Danny is in real trouble, we need to know, it's more important than sitting around here at lunch time fending off Dash's advances. Now come on, I'll drive us there, we can't afford to waste time..."  
Sam and Tucker threw each other another somewhat alarmed look before they shrugged and followed her.

"...Ok, the coast is clear, I think they're out somewhere... lets go!" Jazz motioned them in the door hurriedly before closing it quickly behind them. They made a B line for the Lab. It was locked, but a quick thumb scan on a panel by the door allowed Jazz and the other two access. The Lab, on first inspection, looked normal. The portal was open, and green swirling ectoplasm glowed benignly through it. It was the only light source in the large room, but it was just enough. They could see that the beakers and equipment sat untouched upon the benches. However, something strange caught Sam's eye. It looked as though a very small chunk had been blasted out of the wall opposite the ghost zone, and recently, and there was also some faded substance splattered on the wall. Sam thought she recognised the patterning, but she couldn't make it out with only a trace of whatever substance it was left.  
"Hey Jazz, have your parents got some sort of scanner that shows, like, ghost trails, or, footprints, handprints, you know..."  
"Like an ecto-tracer?" She said, handing Sam an A4 sized flat panel of smoky glass. She turned it on and saw through it green splodges everywhere. Supposedly, ecto-plasm didn't always fade away completely, and the stains couldn't be cleaned away that easily. Sam pointed the device up at the wall, looked through it and gasped.  
"What is it!?" Tucker and Jazz asked in unison, rushing to look over her shoulder.  
Jazz gasped as well, but Tucker had to squint and read it out to realise what it said (his eyesight isn't the best with ectoplasm)  
"Trap... in GZ... Hel...then why does it trail off in a line?"  
"A trap? Then that ghost, it was bait, it kept waking him up until he chased it, and it led him down here... into a trap! He must have been ambushed... he needs Help! He didn't have time to finish the message!" Jazz said, sounding horrified.  
"That's it, we don't go back to school until we've found him..." Sam started.  
There was suddenly a noise upstairs. Maddy and Jack were home.  
"Oh no, what am I going to tell mom and dad?..." Jazz whispered, panicking. Thinking quick, Sam looked around and found a small ecto blaster (and by small, I mean it was the smallest in there, so roughly machine gun sized). She aimed it at a different wall, put it on the lowest setting, and traced words into the wall. She quickly disposed of the gun as they heard footsteps coming down the stairs.  
"Hey, what are you kids doing down here, shouldn't you be at school?" Jack Fenton asked, a little bewildered, as he came upon them. "Uuuh, yea Dad, but, we decided to come back here at lunch to look for clues as to where Danny is..."  
"Mr.Fenton, he's been kidnapped by ghosts! We found a note his kidnappers left, it had to be ghosts, cause it's written in ectoplasm!" Sam burst out, running up to him and holding the Ecto-tracer up to the wall she had written on.  
"HOLY FUDGE you're RIGHT! MADDY!"  
"What's going on down here? Hey, what are you kids doing here, you should be at..."  
"Maddy that's not important, look!" Jack said, pulling his wife over to look through the ecto-tracer. She gasped, and suddenly her face became set and angry.  
"NO ghost takes MY son and GETS AWAY WITH IT! KIDS, you go back to school, Jazz, don't worry, your father and I are going to get Danny back!"  
Jazz gave Sam a nervous look. Maddy ushered them out of the lab as Jack fired up the new spectre speeder he had finished building recently.  
As they walked out the door and heard the spectre speeder taking off into the ghost zone, they were able to speak freely again.  
"Great, now we can't use the 'Boooo'merang to try and find Danny till Mom and Dad get home and we can use the spectre speeder..."  
"Maybe they'll actually find Danny and save him, I mean, even if Danny is in Phantom form, he can change when he sees them and they can rescue him..."  
"But what if they see him change??? What if he doesn't change just in case, and they'll NEVER find him if they don't know the first places to look, the ghost zone is huge, he could be ANYWHERE!" Jazz lamented, sitting down on the front step and burying her head in her heads. All Sam and Tucker could do was exchange distressed looks, because they had to admit, she was right, which meant they had to wait even longer to look for Danny, and who knew what was happening to him in that time?

Danny lay twitching on his cell floor, his body aching and stinging. He felt violated. He had been poked and prodded, had a number of ecto-plasma samples taken, been stretched, squished, and zapped with a number of painful lasers all over.  
And If that was just the initial tests to see what made him tick, he didn't know if he wanted to know what experiments they had in store for him later...  
Danny's stomach rumbled. He was very hungry, he hadn't eaten all day, and apparently they didn't actually give test subjects in this lab food, because they were ghosts and ghosts didn't need to eat.  
But Half ghosts... well, Danny assumed part of their experiment was to starve him and see what happened. His ghost half didn't need food, but his human half did, and without it, he feared he might become ALL ghost...


	3. Chapter 3

The ghost guards floated down the test subject's hallway. Normally, this job was as boring as their lifetime ones had been, but if they weren't working here, they would just be bumming around the ghost zone their whole after-life... at least working for crazy old Sylvester Screech had its perks... like today for example...  
'So, Screech reckons if we shock him BEFORE we take him out, of the cell, we won't have any trouble with him...' said one, clarifying their instructions.  
'Yea' replied the other, fingering the small remote he had been given, ' but the question is, how MUCH do we shock him until he won't struggle?' He added with a smirk. His companion mirrored his expression, 'well, we just have to find that fine line between in pain and incapacitated'. The two guards laughed as they reached the Halfa's cell. The one with the remote looked in. The Halfa was curled up into a ball on the small cell floor, sleeping with a strained expression on his face, as though in great discomfort. The Guard sneered to his colleague in a mean way before pressing the button on the silver device.  
The Halfa jerked back and yelled in pain, hitting his head on the wall and yelping as pain also split his head. The guards laughed cruelly. They watched the Halfa rub the back of his head and get to his feet, irritated, before the first pressed the button again.  
The ghost boy screamed in agony and crumpled to the floor, the red light of the shocks from his bonds illuminating the cruelly amused faces of the guards. The one with the remote stopped shocking him after about 10 seconds. "What do you reckon?" he asked his partner, "think he's subdued sufficiently yet?"  
The second looked down at the twitching halfa with another smirk. "Here, gimmie the remote and I'll tell you..."  
The second guard took the remote, and pressed the button on and off in short bursts, the halfa yelping and grunting in pain every time, getting thoroughly pissed off by the guards, but progressively more worn out by the excruciating pains, until he lay twitching and panting on the floor, slightly dazed and very sore. His head still throbbed badly from hitting his head on the wall.  
The door opened and two powerful hands grasped him by the upper arms. They dragged him out and along the corridor; he was facing backwards, heels dragging along the ground. His headache was so bad he concentrated so much on trying to keep it at a bearable level that he did not struggle.  
'Well there ya go, Screech is on to something with this subdue before you transport thing..." The guard to Danny's left laughed.  
Danny growled. If his head didn't feel like it was being cleaved by the fright knight's sword he wouldn't be going anywhere without a fight. Even if it was a futile effort.

They entered the lab again, only this time, they did not take Danny to a metal table. He began to resist them when they released the green beam holding his wrists together, but a few short shocks were enough to easily restrain him again. Danny found himself, when his headache subsided enough again for him to concentrate on other things, that he was held against a large metal circle... just a white pole in a complete circle, his wrists cuffs connected to it securely by ports either side of him, his legs slightly spread and connected to it the same way. Danny couldn't help but feel like the man of Leonardo DaVinci's famous human anatomy drawing.  
The circle was held up perfectly vertical by four poles running diagonally to it from two larger poles either side that were topped by large green spheres, which looked more like something out of a Frankenstein movie than a DaVinci sketchbook.  
Danny looked up and glared as Sylvester Screech floated into the room carrying a tray of something. He leered at Danny with hungry eyes and an evil smile.  
"You aren't going to try and bring me to life are you Dr.Frankenstein? 'Cause i can do that on my own if you get these cuffs off me" Danny growled angrily. Sylvester cackled. "You Halfas are hilarious, but not for the reasons you think you are. Your wit, or lack-thereof, is not what I'm interested in, however, your human side IS part of my plans... though you will not be getting to change back... I do not need you to, I can do all I need while you are dead, my little guinea pig."  
Danny suddenly realised what was on the tray that Screech had brought with him. His stomach dissolved. There were small phials of green substance and a few large needles. Danny swallowed hard. He watched, unable to struggle (his arms and legs were stretched out fully by the circle) as the mad scientist set down the tray and went to a control panel a few feet in front of the metal circle on which Danny was suspended. He pressed a few buttons and the machinery in the poles attached to the circle lit up with ecto-electricity and began humming. Screech looked up and pressed one last button, the guard ghosts standing back to watch the spectacle.  
The next thing Danny knew, waves of white ecto electricity swept up over him between the poles. It was extremely painful... it seemed to be some sort of body scan that analysed his every ectoplasmic molecule. Danny threw back his head, unable to scream, his whole body tensed against the agony. He shook violently from the pain, but eventually the waves stopped and Danny's muscles had a chance to relax as Screech looked at the analysis on the console screen. Danny's head hung forward, he was panting, trying to shut out the aching all over, hoping to god that only had to happen once.  
"Hmmm, interesting... he is most certainly suitable, just as I had hoped... my-my, but more powerful than I thought... not as though it has helped him..." Screech sneered as he got up and went over to the bench on which he had set his tray. Danny watched apprehensively as he slowly filled a syringe with what looked like ecto-plasma from one of the phials. He floated up to Danny's side with an evil leer and an air of excitement. "Of course, it will take a while to see the results, but we have a long road ahead of us Phantom... no one will hear you scream in this part of the ghost zone..."  
Danny growled at him, about to retort, when the syringe needle was jabbed into the crook of his arm and he let out a small cry if pain. He grit his teeth and growled as he felt the hot substance enter his bloodstream. He hated how consciously he could feel it spread through him. A strange burning heat spread across his body and he began to perspire. It felt like hot chilli in his veins, which was not at all pleasant. The sensation passed, but Danny felt feverish, sick and weak.  
After another scan, which seemed to leave Screech unnervingly satisfied, Danny was dragged back to his cell, feeling too sick and weak to fight back.   
As Danny was thrown unceremoniously back into his tiny cramped cell, he was glad at least, despite the aching of his entire body, that his throbbing headache was gone.

Sam, Tucker and Jazz got out of the Spectre speeder, disheartened at having found absolutely no clues as to Danny's whereabouts.  
" I don't understand it..." said Jazz, chucking the booomerang down on a bench, "how could it not work? What could possibly be blocking its tracker?"  
"If whoever or whatever has Danny has a deice that can block the frequency it's tracking on, then there's no way we'll find him unless we happen to come across a big sign somewhere in the ghost zone that says 'Danny Phantom is being held captive here'. It's like looking for an intangible needle in an intangible stack..." Tucker said woefully, slumping into a chair and rubbing his eyes.  
"Come on guys, we can't give up after only one try, we have to think of other ways to help us find him, we've got to think..." said Sam fervently, obviously fighting her fatigue as she paced the lab while Tucker watched her morosely.  
"We've got to sleep. We aren't giving up, but we aren't going to be able to help Danny if we're all totally washed out... come on, its eleven, I better sneak you guys home. Try and fake a sicky for your parents tomorrow. Sneak over here if you can, my parents will let me stay home, no question, and they'll be out rounding up a ghost hunter search team tomorrow, I heard them earlier, so we should have at least 8 hours to keep looking..." Jazz said, trying to sound hopeful, but even she in despair over their failed attempt to find her little brother. The other two nodded and they all headed upstairs. Jazz took one last look at the swirling ectoplasmic portal, leaving it open... just in case...

Danny groaned weakly...  
"How much more of this can I stand..." he mumbled to himself in a broken voice and sighed, "great... talking to myself again... I don't suppose these experiments can kill me if i'm a ghost, so that only leaves the option of going completely insane... and if talking to myself is the first sign of madness... what's the next sign I should be looking out for?..."  
Danny groaned and curled into himself again, the pain in his stomach stabbing at him again.  
Apart from being hungry, the third lot of injections had made him feel sicker than ever. He shivered, one minute freezing, the next, feverishly hot. He hissed as the burning heat came over him again... and just as perspiration dripped down his forehead onto the cold hard floor of his cell on which he laid, a wave of biting cold replaced it, giving him Goosebumps.  
He knew it was his ice powers coming through... he had remembered them after his first lot of injections, but they too had proved useless against his bonds. Although his ice powers did not provoke as vicious a reaction from the cuffs he wore. He supposed he exerted less effort to use them than he did pure ecto energy. Yet the cuffs did not smash when iced... they merely melted it with red electric bolts when he tried to use the power to freeze them. He had also tried to just smash the cuffs on the walls and the bars of the door, but as he had suspected, they were made so tough they would probably have withstood a nuclear explosion.  
Danny groaned and rolled onto his back as another hot wave passed over him.  
He wished over and over that Sam, or Tucker, Or Jazz, or even his parents, might suddenly appear at the door and free him... but the hours passed by, and the only sounds he heard were those of Wulf, who he had realised was also incarcerated there. He howled loudly and was silenced quickly by shocks like Danny's, though his bonds were different. They stopped him from using his portaling ability. Danny wasn't sure why he was there, he couldn't speak to Wulf, even if he could he wouldn't be able to understand him. Danny sighed; his breath frosting and he winced as a jolt of red electricity stung through his spine. He looked at his hands; a small layer of frost had formed on his fingertips. His ice powers were eking out without his control already... he needed to let off some cool, but he couldn't without getting a painful dose of that red electricity from the cuffs...  
Danny sat up suddenly, a hot wave passing over as he brushed the ice off his fingers and finding more in his hair as he ran his hands through it. A plan began to form in his mind.  
It would be stupid to just wait for rescue if he couldn't be sure it would find him... as Screech had said, they were in an obscure part of the ghost zone, probably not even mapped by Danny yet. But the leaking of Danny's ice powers gave him an idea... it would mean he had to contend with more pain, but Danny knew he would take it if it meant getting out... he would have to suppress his ice powers... let them build until he couldn't hold them... until he could let them off like a bomb and break his way out... the more cold concentrated at his core, the less effort to produce it, the less painful to use it... he might be able to use enough power with out the pain overwhelming him... it was worth a shot.  
Danny sat huddled in the corner, knees drawn up to his chest, stomach stabbing with hunger pains, hot sick waves passing through him, but he concentrated on remaining warm and suppressing his cold core, feeling the temperature within him getting lower as his skin prickled with fever.  
It wouldn't take long...

Sam, Tucker and Jazz spent their fake-sick day in the ghost zone, searching as far as they could. They checked out Skulkers lair, based on the idea that technology was being used to block Danny's signal from the booomerang, but they came up blank... and had to do some fast flying to escape Skulker, even though they were real world objects, his gunfire worked on both worlds...  
They came up empty handed when they found technus, as all he was doing was playing computer games... having hacked a new game that had not been released into the real world yet...  
Walker's jail drew a blank, and they found no ghost witnesses, and regretted asking Klumper, who it took them half an hour to loose as he tried to gain their friendship.  
Sam slumped in the driver's seat of the spectre speeder as they cruised through dead space. There wasn't much out in this part of the Ghost zone... except a large purple football in the distance...  
"Crap, this is hopeless!" exclaimed Sam, frustrated, "We're never going to find Danny like this... maybe we should go see Frostbite... ask if he has anything that will help us track Danny, maybe we can lock onto his ice signature instead of his ecto-"  
"Sam Watch where you're going!" Tucker said suddenly.  
"Why? It's not like we can hit anything in the ghost zone, remembe-"  
THUMP  
"OW! CURSES... YOU!?"  
Sam jumped and Jazz squeaked. She looked out of the window of the Spectre speeder, which had stopped after hitting something quite solid. Something that did not look happy about being hit... especially by them.  
Vlad plasmius frowned and leered through the glass at them with glowing red eyes.  
"Plasmius!" said Sam and Tucker in Unison, looking just as displeased to see him.  
"What are YOU doing here?" Asked Jazz rudely, scowling at Vlad suspiciously.  
"I could ask you the same thing... and why do you think it is any of your business what a ghost does in the ghost zone?"  
"Half ghost." Jazz replied coldly.  
"Very astute observation, miss Fenton. But by any means, that still does not make it any business of yours. Shouldn't you three be at school?" he said coolly, emphasising the last word.  
"Where's Danny? If you've got him plasmius, if I find out it's you, so help me I'll..."  
"Daniel?" Said Vlad flatly, raising an eyebrow at Sam. "What on earth are you talking about?"  
"Don't play dumb with us Plasmius! We've been everywhere, this has to have something to do with you! You already kidnapped him once!" Said Tucker angrily.  
"You better not have done anything to my little brother Plasmius, or I'll tell my mom and dad your true identity and they'll never stop hunting you down..." growled Jazz.  
Vlad wore a slightly annoyed expression at her threat. " Oh like they'll believe you, you don't have proof! And besides, I have no idea where your brother is. If Daniel gets himself into trouble that is none of my concern... now if you don't mind, I'm a busy man... Half ghost though I may be, I'm STILL Mayor of amity park, and there is such a thing, children, as responsibility... good luck finding your brother." Vlad sneered, before he turned and flew away towards the purple football.  
Sam growled and glared angrily after him. She had half a mind to follow him, almost expecting to see Danny locked up in his basement through the portal that football must be hiding.  
"Come on... he doesn't have Danny. If he did, he'd already be using him as leverage somehow, we'd know." Said Jazz in a defeated tone, slumping down in the back seat. Sam and Tucker were both unwilling to stop searching, but knew their time had run-out, unless they wanted to be in trouble like they were after that escapade with Vlad and Danni, and this time she wasn't there to help them with a little overshadowing.

When they got back to the Fenton house, they found it still empty, though Jazz squeaked when she saw the clock. "Come on! I have to get you two home, my parents are due back any minute! "  
"But what if they get home and YOU aren't here?" Sam said as they left the basement hurriedly, leaving the portal open again.  
"pfft, please! Your talking to an honour student, they'll believe any excuse I give them, I'll say I went to the drug-store to get some cough medicine".  
And with that they all got back into Jazz's car, Danny still not far from their thoughts.


	4. Chapter 4

Danny sat hunched and shivering in the corner of his cell.  
"Almost there... just... a little longer..." he muttered to himself. He was still perspiring with fever, his sweat turning to streams of frost down his face, he screwed up his eyes, taking rasping breaths and gasps of pain as the red shocks from the cuffs increased, they stung him incessantly now... and he was feeling sicker and sicker in the stomach because apart from the hunger and injections Screech had given him, it was getting more difficult to contain his ice powers. His breath kept misting before him. Another shock from his cuffs made him yelp, and he screwed up his eyes... "Come ooon..."  
Somewhere far down the corridor, Wulf began to howl loudly. Danny wasn't sure why. He heard two guards approaching,  
"That's it, I thought I told that mutt to keep quiet..."  
One of the guards stopped on their way past Danny's cell. "Hey... is it just me or is it... colder... here?"  
The other stopped, turning to his companion with an irritated expression. "This is the ghost zone, its ALWAYS cold here! Now come help me shut this damn mutt up..."  
The first guard frowned and looked into Danny's cell.  
"What the hell is going on over there? Come on, hurry up!" The other shouted back.  
But the guard looking down at Danny wasn't interested in Wulf anymore "Hey... what are you doing? Whatever it is, stop it or we'll subdue you like we did last time..." he growled down at Danny. Danny's eyes snapped open and he looked up at the guard, glowing blue eyes illuminating the dark cell.  
"Oh Y-yea?... Subdue THIS!"  
Will a Yell, Danny jumped to his feet and let his ice powers loose. Over the sound of his own cries of agony from the red shocks that he suffered, he heard the yells of the guards cut short.  
Danny controlled his power again, not wanting to waste a single bit of the still over-concentrated cool within him... he knew his core must be below zero now. He relaxed, falling to his knees, the shocks from his cuffs stopping as he reigned in his powers.  
Shaking, Danny opened his eyes to survey the damage. The door had been blasted off its hinges and had squashed the first guard beneath it against the corridor floor. The entire cell was lined with thick ice sheets. Danny realised as he got to his feet that the outburst of cold energy had shorted the bond beams on his cuffs. His wrists and ankles were no longer tied together, but the cuffs still functioned in the way of shocking him whenever he used his powers. Despite this, a wave of excitement swept through Danny. He was free!  
Danny stepped out of his cell and looked around. The walls were all iced over like his cell for about 10 feet around. Looking down the corridor, Danny saw the other Guard on the floor, but he was stirring. He got up, floating in the middle of the corridor, gawping at the damage... and at Danny. It was a full three seconds before he started hollering into his communicator,  
"SUBJECT ESCAPING! ALL UNITS TO PERSUE SUBJECT 108! Come here you!" Said the guard, flying at Danny. Danny, not wanting to waste more energy, ran in the opposite direction. As he rounded a corner, he heard a loud banging noise coming from the corridor he had left. The guard stopped chasing him and looked back down the corridor. There was a loud howl.  
"RUN WULF!" Danny yelled back but he kept running. Wulf's lock must have frozen, he had just smashed it to get out.  
"ALERT! ALERT! SUBJECTS 108 AND 107 NOW ON THE LOOSE!" The guard yelled into his communicator before deciding to pursue Wulf the other way.  
Danny had no idea where he was going. He was in a corridor without doors and as he neared the end, another pair of ghost guards appeared ahead of him. Danny skidded to a halt.  
"STOP RIGHT THERE PUNK!" One yelled, getting out a net gun.  
Danny ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction. He heard the gunfire. He wasn't fast enough. It flew over his head and swept up under his feet. Before he knew what was happening he was squished down within the confines of glowing green netting. But within seconds, a few red bolts stung him as the net froze solid. Thrusting out his arms Danny broke the net with ease and flew off. He couldn't go intangible through walls, but he found the cuffs did not sting him when he flew. The energy needed didn't register as a threat. Danny flew around a corner, the two guards still on his trail, yelling for him to stop.  
"DO YOU HONESTLY EXPECT ME TO LISTEN TO YOU?" Danny yelled back incredulously. He looked back at the path ahead, finding two more guards coming up to meet him. Danny flew over them, dodging another net. He saw one reach for a silver remote on their belt. "Uh uh uh!" he said, pointing his finger at it. A blue beam shot from his fingertip and froze the remote solid, but Danny received some shocks for using the power. It was bearable at least. The guard dropped the remote and it shattered.  
"Come ooon, this place has got to have a window somewhere!" Danny muttered to himself as he tried to put some distance between himself and the guards.  
It was like a maze, and Danny felt like a lab rat, except he was a lab rat being pursued by now four angry ghost guards.  
"Well if it's so like a maze, maybe I should treat it like one... and in a maze, you always have to turn left..." Danny took the next left he found. "BINGO!" He yelled, ahead was a long corridor, but at the end was a window through which pitch-black sky could be seen.  
Danny picked up speed and threw his hands over his head. He smashed through the glass... but something stopped him flying free... it was another net. But this one glowed red...  
It was a second before the guard outside holding the net launcher pressed the button and caused the red net to electrocute Danny again. He screamed in pain... he felt a burning sensation build in the back of his throat, and as the agony reached an unbearable pitch, a familiar power escaped Danny...  
The net broke apart in its wake and the ghost guards were thrown back as Danny let out a ghostly wail... except it sounded a little different... it was deeper. As long as Danny held it, the cuffs continued to shock him. He realised he was using his wail without meaning to and stopped. The moment he did he dropped to the ground, but the shocks didn't stop. A light sparked at his middle, but did not form into the two rings it normally did. Danny couldn't change back as long as those cuffs were on. And he had just been forced to waste a lot of energy he needed to escape. He rubbed his head and looked up. The Four guards, including the fifth who had netted and shocked him, were flat on the ground around him, and part of the building had collapsed, but coming around the sides of the large complex were the group of white lab coat specialist capture guards, and they headed straight for him. Danny shot into the air, ignoring the aching he felt all over. He shot off through the ghost zone, praying that he would come to an area he recognised so he could loose the guards and find his way home. A green hot ray shot past Danny's left ear and he dodged sideways. He looked behind him to see the specialist guards aiming disabling guns at him. If he was hit with one of those he would be temporarily paralysed by pain... and that was the last thing he wanted. Danny took careful aim and shot a blue beam at one of the guns. It hit true to its mark. One of the pursuers cursed as he dropped his cold-snapped gun in surprise. Danny dodged some of the typical rock debris of the ghost zone, desperately looking for some recognisable feature... the only things he saw were one or two floating doors and some big purple thing in the distance...  
Danny dodged two more shots before he was suddenly stuck dead in his tracks by blinding pain.  
His hand was outstretched towards the pursuers, and the pain caused a blue light to emanate from his hand. The next thing Danny knew, Red bolts interjected the stinging green light around him... but all pain quickly ceased again. He opened his streaming eyes, now watering with the pain, and looked towards the shooter. Their gun had been incapacitated by three large knife-like icicles. Danny now found himself surrounded by the specialist guards, who sneered at him. One, he saw, was holding a remote... he pressed it and Danny was overcome by a flood of red electric charges from his cuffs. He let out a piercing scream... but no wail came from his throat now... Danny had to battle the pain to keep his head clear... he stretched out his shaking arms as red lightning stung him and pierced his skin, cutting him in places, he called up his still minus degree core and focussed the energy to his hands, letting it flood free. He heard muffled yells and stopped the flow of cold power as his pain died down slightly. He looked around; the guards who had not been frozen solid in the line of fire gave him a momentary wide berth. Danny looked around frantically... the only thing close now was a large purple football... Danny stared for a second, recognising it.  
"YES!" He yelled, and shot off in the opposite direction. It was Vlads portal, but he did not go to it... god only knew how Vlad could take advantage of him in this state... but at least it let him know where he was... and Danny was now heading home...  
The last six guards pursued him when their shock wore off. They put away their guns; obviously they were not helping much. Instead they got out their lassos and net guns again...  
Danny weaved through as much Debris as he could, making it impossible for them to aim accurately, but he was loosing energy fast, he couldn't keep up the dodge act much longer... it would take at least another ten minutes to reach the Fenton portal...  
Eventually, after Danny began to flag weaving cat and mouse style through the expanses of floating chunks of ghost grassy ground, he came to the long stretch before home...  
It would take five minutes to cross if he was fast enough. Danny picked up speed, and a few jolts of lightning stung him, making him twitch in pain, but he wouldn't stop now... not even if...  
FOOM! Another net flew across Danny's field of vision, and quickly it encased him. Danny did not slow down though, he dragged his captor along with him and all the while let out some more ice power... it froze the net, but he got a much more severe shock for it than the last time... his powers were running out, soon he wouldn't be able to do so much as make his hands glow without getting severely punished by his cuffs. Danny growled. He felt a sudden heavy tug on his left leg, one of the ghosts had gotten a lasso on his ankle, but Danny let off a little more ice, froze it solid and snapped it off. Danny squinted into the distance and saw the growing light of a swirling green vortex.  
"YES!" He yelled automatically. "OH NO YOU DON'T! YOU'RE OURS!" yelled a voice nearby. Danny looked around to see the last six guards catching on him... they were trying to surround him. Danny knew they would follow him through if need be... now was his last chance to make a clean getaway. He concentrated on what was left of the cold within him. He focused it inwards, compressing it to build pressure... he felt two lassos close over his wrists and the guards tried to slow him down... Danny struggled, still suppressing the energy within him... it wouldn't be enough... he combined it with what ecto-energy he had left... and then as they guards pulled him to a halt 20 feet away from the portal... Danny let it all loose in a wide arc around him... Through the waves of red electricity that engulfed him for it, he saw a green and blue shockwave spread out from around him like the shockwave of an explosion. All the guards were thrown back and the force of it, knocked back by the ecto energy and frozen stiff by the ice. Danny threw his head back and screamed as the pain became blinding. Finally, his energy ran out. The shocks dissipated and he gathered himself together, near to blacking out, he used what coherence he had to direct himself to the ghost portal... a cry followed after him. He hadn't expected any of the guards to still be able to follow him... but one it seemed had managed to shield themselves behind a colleague and weren't totally incapacitated by ice. He came at Danny with an ecto-paralyser... Danny flew as fast as he could and made it through the Fenton portal... before he went straight to the control console and pressed the button to close the portal doors. They quickly slid shut with a mechanical sound and a metallic THUNK. A second Later, Danny heard a loud THUD as the ghost chaser hit the blast doors.  
Danny smiled triumphantly and shuffled over to the doors, looking at the Fenton portal admiringly. He collapsed in front of it, rasping for breath, ecto-plasma leaking from his mouth... everything became blurry and he felt dizzy. He had no energy left to sustain his ghost form... but with more crackling light around his waist, the cuffs stung him with a few more bolts. Danny grunted and sunk completely to the floor, lying looking up at the ceiling, his last thoughts before darkness took him was he had a really bad craving for pizza.


	5. Chapter 5

Maddie came home to prepare the gear for the mass scale search they were planning, while Jack continued looking for volunteers to help them. So far they had only enlisted the help of two agents of the men in white. Jack was on his way to visit Vlad in Wisconsin, to seek his old friends help, and even Maddie admitted they needed it. But Jack would be gone a while. Danny had been missing for 4 days now, they had to hurry…

Maddie found herself alone in the house, it was about 3 in the afternoon. She rubbed her red watery eyes. She had been crying more than she thought she would. But there was absolutely no sign of Danny, and as much as she willed herself to remain positive they would find him… horrible thoughts kept creeping into her mind of what it would be like if they didn't… and what horrible things was her baby enduring… god only knew what those ghosts wanted of him, but it could be nothing good, because they were ghosts, and all ghosts were evil, right?

Maddie descended the stairs to the Fenton Lab. The first thing she noticed was the lack of light. The ghost portal was closed. Maddie frowned angrily, her unadjusted eyes not picking up the feint glow on the floor. "What idiot did that? What if Danny was trying to get through!" she muttered angrily, turning on the lights.

She gasped. Something lay on the floor, something glowing faintly, white and black, tainted with green. Maddie moved cautiously over to it, but realized it was out cold… she suddenly recognized it as she saw the face.

"YOU!" She shrieked with a mix of horror and anger. The ghost boy's head moved ever so slightly to the side and he seemed almost to flinch at her sudden outburst. His glowing green pupils were seen momentarily beneath flickering half closed eyelids. He seemed to try and focus on her… "I… Danny… he…" he croaked, barely audible. He tensed as though trying to move, but his body shook when he tried to move and he fell limp and unconscious again. Maddie had no pity for him… he said something about Danny… he knew where he was? He probably had a hand in his kidnapping! Maddie fumed inside. She noticed the cuffs on the ghost boy's neck, wrists and ankles, and also his injuries. She had no pity for him. If he knew where Danny was, Maddie would make him tell her. And although his wounds made no sense to her, she would get the story of that out of him as well…

All the ghost restraining equipment had been recently destroyed, by an unknown ghost, so Maddie had to make do with what she had… But that was Maddie Fenton's specialty.

Danny was awoken by a shout… he tried to open his eyes, but they would not comply… he squinted at the fuzzy shape looming over him, but with a jolt of happiness, but also slight fear, he recognized his mother's voice. Danny automatically went into cover mode. He tried to utter something about trying to save 'Danny', but it didn't come out how he wanted. He tried to move himself into a position he could show her he meant no harm… but he was totally drained… he felt his consciousness slip away again and everything went dark again.

The next time Danny became conscious was because something hot was being held near his face. He felt slightly stronger, as though he had finally regained some energy from forced rest of his body. He opened his eyes groggily and tried to focus on the thing in front of him rather than his headache. It certainly woke him up properly. His mother stood before him with an instrument held near his face that was glowing with hit green ecto-energy. Danny also quickly realized something was keeping him upright. He was slumped in a computer chair, arms restrained by the cuffs behind the backrest and legs restrained by the ankle cuffs being attached to the feet of the chair.

"Where is he Phantom? Where's my Danny? I know you have something to do with this now TALK before I start to make you wish you'd never died…" She said in a harsh tone Danny had never heard before.

"Wh-wha…I… don't know what you're talking about… I don't know where…Danny is…" Danny lied badly, trying to get his bearings. The hot instrument on a wire from a large machine on the bench behind Maddie was shoved closer to Danny's face and he automatically recoiled slightly, the heat of it unbearable to his ghostly molecules… it reminded him of a laser Sylvester Screech had used on him… one that it seemed, tested the limits of his pain endurance… it had been the worst test.

"You said his name when I found you,

DON'T lie to me spook! Because I'm not lying to you, I'm not afraid to use this. Don't forget, I can use this on you as much as I like and you'll never die, because ghosts can't die twice, and I'm not pulling you apart molecule by molecule until I have the answers I need. We have hours ahead of us ghost, so make it easy on yourself and start talking!"

Danny looked into the familiar red goggles, the eyes behind them not visible for the tinted lenses, but still her gaze seemed so intense it bored into his own. Danny weighed up his chances, swallowing hard. Could he wait for Sam or Tucker to save him from this situation and endure the pain till then to keep his secret from his parents? God only knew, the thought of more pain made him cringe inwardly. He wouldn't have the power to free himself for at least another week, and he might go mad before then… could he lie? Tell her he knew where he himself was? Send them on a wild ghost-chase to buy himself time… yea right, to do what? She said she'd pull me apart molecule-by-molecule once she had the information… was it at all possible… he could tell her the truth? What was more important… would she believe him?

"Time's up ghost! TELL ME WHERE MY SON IS!" She shouted at him and pressed the button on the device in her hand. A green beam shot from the end of the instrument and hit Danny in the chest. Total and unbearable pain washed over Danny in a sickeningly familiar way. His back arched and head rolled back as he screamed in agony. She held it for at least ten seconds, which to Dan was an eternity, before stopping the device. Danny slumped again, twitching in pain and breathing heavily.

My god, my own mother just tortured me…

It was what Danny had feared for so long… only he had reasoned that if it might ever occur she caught him, he would reveal himself before harm was done… except he'd never considered that he might not be able to change back at the time… and thanks to the cuffs…

"Ready to talk yet spook? Maddie growled. Danny's head was hung back as he gasped pointlessly for air, not really needing it in ghost form. He couldn't think of anything to do except keep trying to bluff his way out…

"I… don't… know… I came to find him… heard he was in danger…"

"HA! Do you think I'm stupid ghost!?"

"No…"

"Then why do you think I'd believe that? I told you not to LIE to me!"

Danny screamed again as she applied the device to his chest. When his screams finally died, she stopped again. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way… it's your choice ghost…" she said, her voice growing harder.

On one side, Danny's heart ached to see the lengths his mother was going through to find him… on the other side, he was wondering if the experience of being tortured would scar him for life… though that was only a possibility if he survived it… perhaps he would have to change tack… tell her some truth, surely if it was true she would believe him…

"He…he was ambushed… by a crazy ghost scientist…" Danny rasped, shaking.

Maddie seemed slightly taken aback that he had actually told her something…

"Where is he? Where did they take him?" she demanded harshly a second later.

Danny swallowed, his throat sore. "He was… held captive, in some sort of… lab… I was trapped there too…(he added quickly, hoping she would buy his being the victim and release him… but knowing her ghost pity levels…)… but he escaped… and now I don't know where he is, I didn't see him, he went a different way than me…"

Maddie withdrew her threatening implement slightly, mulling over the phantom's story, before she frowned. "That explains your injuries, but I don't believe you don't know where he is… you seem to know an awful lot about how he was kidnapped, how do I know you weren't in on it? That you didn't kidnap him from the ghosts that captured you, then came here to gain our trust only to harm the rest of my family?" She said, shoving the implement back in his face…

Danny's mouth hung open… ok, now she was just looking for an excuse to blame the ghost kid? To blame him?… Danny realized with a horrible sinking feeling that it didn't matter what he said… he was a ghost, and she would not trust his word. She would always find a way to accuse him for Danny's… for his OWN disappearance… kidnapping, as they seemed to believe it… well, it was…

Danny slowly came to the conclusion he had only one more tack to try…the whole truth…

Danny had taken to long to answer again, and with a snarl, Maddie used the device on him again. When his broken screams died again, she stopped the machine. "I'm WAITING…"

Danny leaned forward, coughing up ectoplasm which trickled sickeningly from the corner of his mouth…

"Ok… you want the truth?… I'll tell you the truth…mom..." he rasped pitifully in a defeated tone. Maddie was completely taken aback. "WHAT did you call me?" she asked, slightly shocked, slightly horrified.

Danny swallowed and couldn't find the courage to look her in the goggled eye…

"I'm… I'm the ghost kid, mom. I'm half ghost, I got captured and then I had to escape and… it's been me all along… there was an accident when…"

"SHUT-UP!" She screeched suddenly. Danny looked up at her, his heart falling. Her expression was one of utter revulsion. She had her hands over her ears… she was shaking. "HOW DARE YOU GHOST! HOW DARE YOU TRY TO PLAY ME FOR A FOOL, YOU CRUEL, FOUL… YOU EVIL…YOU ARE NOT MY LITTLE BOY!" she shrieked, before she poked the instrument hard into Danny's chest and turned it on again at full power. Pain like never before set fire to every ghostly nerve in Danny's body. His screams were a mix of agony and anguish… without a physical way to prove to her he was her son, she would NEVER believe him… tears leaked from the corners of Danny's eyes… Maddie passed them off as his eyes watering from pain, which gave her a cruel sense of satisfaction. Danny eventually could scream no longer and fell into blackness once more…


	6. Chapter 6

When Danny next awoke, he was stiff and aching worse than ever. He could hear his mother, and she seemed to be talking to someone. Danny groggily opened his eyes, wincing as his head throbbed. She had his back to him, she was on the phone, and she seemed to be shaking a little with silent sobs. Her voice to the person on the other end of the phone however did not betray her state. She sounded anxious yet determined…  
"…Yes Jack… don't you worry about that, you just get to Wisconsin and get Vlad to help us… no dear, of course not… don't worry Jack, I can handle him, you know how hard it is to fool me. I'll get it out of him sooner or later and then we can retrieve Danny with Vlad's help… take care sweetie…oh don't worry about that, I'm not falling for those lies…ok …bye Honey." She hung up.  
"W-wait… he's going to …Vlad's? No… no, you've got to stop him... Vlad will…you've gotta call him back and get him to come home-"  
"SILENCE GHOST!" Maddie yelled, wheeling around to face him. Her hood and goggles were off and her puffy red eyes rested angrily on him. "I'm not falling for your LIES. You don't even know Vlad… but my son is out there in the ghost zone, and you know where HE is, and one way or the other I'm going to get it from you…" She went over to the bench with the torturing device on it and turned it on. Danny's eyes widened and he tensed, drawing himself in a little, though his hands and ankles were still bound to the chair. "No! No please… please… not again…" he said pitifully in a voice he would never have allowed Sylvester Screech hear him use.  
She let out a hard mirthless laugh that was like a slap across the face. "HA! You're not fooling me Phantom, ghosts don't have emotions, you can't make me pity you. But I know you can feel pain, and if you want that to stop, you're going to have to tell me where my son is, or I'll do more to you than just this…" She said, holding the glowing tipped instrument up.  
"I'M right HERE!" He shouted in frustration, desperate, "It's ME, you've got to believe me, just let me explain, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"  
She had turned the device on him again, her face twisting in anger. "YOU CAN'T BE MY SON! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HALF GHOST! Stop stalling Phantom, I told you I'm getting the truth out of you, no matter how long it takes, but you better give me some answers or I'll make your afterlife HELL."  
Danny slumped when the beam was released, panting and twitching with pain.  
"You've…you've got to believe me… Vlad wants… to kill… Jack… if he goes… alone… there's no time, you've got to…"  
"I don't have to do anything ghost, except get you to tell me where my son is. I'm no fool; if you were really half ghost, you would already have proved it to me by changing back, but you can't, can you, because it's not TRUE! You're going to run out of lies eventually, and I'm going to make the process as quick as possible."  
"MOM, LISTEN TO ME! VLAD'S GOING TO AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!…"  
She stuck the device into his chest again and held it until his screams died. When released he slumped again, shaking… but his head rested on the back of the chair and his shaking was from sobs… tears rolled down his face.  
She let out a hard laugh again. "Haven't you understood a word Iv said? You can't trick me into pitying you. Ghosts have no emotions. No amount of crocodile tears are going to save you…" she trailed off with a disgusted tone  
Danny made no reply; he just let the tears roll down the side of his face. This would be the end of him… there was no way he could become human again after this, he would be so broken he couldn't bare to let her know she had done this to him… he would have to let her destroy him… better she believed him lost than knew what she had done. But apart from that, Danny regretted that she would never know the truth, that he was sorry for lying, he was sorry for all those times he had been short with her and Jack, and they would never know it wasn't their fault… and he could never say goodbye to Tucker and Sam…  
"Your son…is… dead." He muttered quietly… but she didn't hear him, she was over the other side of the lab. He heard her return. Next moment he felt something at his waist. He looked down through blurry vision and squinted. Maddie was strapping something around his waist, and when she drew away, he saw it. She had put the spectre deflector on him. His eyes widened in sudden fear, he opened his mouth to say something, but she pressed the button and whatever words he might have had in mind were drowned in his piercing screams. Electric shocks shot up his spine, arching his back, it seemed a fire was searing through him, it was unbearable, there was no way he could survive this, with the bonds keeping him a ghost, no way of changing back, it would obliterate him. His screaming died as he was overcome with all consuming agony. It increased to a pitch were Danny felt as if his neck, wrists and ankles were being burnt off his body… and suddenly, he went beyond pain, and an almost familiar tingling washed over him as he numbed to the agony… he went limp. This must be it... he must be dead. That tingling was familiar because it was like changing into Phantom form… it was the sensation of becoming something dead… Through the dull aching that seemed to return, Danny realized something… If he was dead, and he was still thinking… he hadn't thought of that, he was now all ghost… it was not the end he had longed for, she would now never believe him, he was doomed to endure more.  
Danny moaned very quietly… it was never going to end for him, there would never be a release, he was in hell.  
He heard Maddie suddenly, as though from far away… she gasped shakily, then frantically muttered… "Oh god no…oh god no… Danny…"  
Danny suddenly realized he tasted blood… and the aching in his body was worse than ever, like he had been burnt alive then had a building fall on him. Dead ghosts didn't feel like this did they? Ecto-plasma didn't taste like blood… and his heavy arms were limp at the sides of the chair… not bound behind it… that meant… the bonds… he must be…  
"Mom?…" He whimpered in a tiny broken voice. He heard quick stumbling footsteps and suddenly he was in someone's embrace. He felt her tears start to soak his shoulder.  
"I'm… sorry… I should have… told you… but I…"he croaked.  
"No, Danny no… you have nothing to be sorry for, I…I didn't mean to… I… I'm so sorry… oh god, my little boy…how could I…"  
"I …forgive you… you didn't …know… this isn't… your fault" Danny whispered, his voice now broken and barely audible. It hurt to talk, but Danny had to tell her. He needed her to know he didn't blame her. How could he? She was his mother, she accepted him no matter what, how could he not do the same?  
"Oh Danny…" She sobbed into his shoulder, but he heard her only as a half dream as he slipped into unfeeling darkness again… finally, his ordeal was at an end…

Jazz arrived home with Sam and Tucker. She knew her mother would be home, but hopefully she would be easy to sneak past, assuming she wasn't in the lab… then they could go and search for Danny some more. Jazz opened the door as silently as she could. "You two wait here. I'll make sure the coast is clear, then I'll come back and get you…" The other two nodded and Jazz slipped inside her house. She couldn't hear anything… she crept silently into the kitchen… nothing here either. She just had to check the lab. Jazz tiptoed towards the lab door, but halfway there, she heard noises… someone was coming up the stairs slowly. It must be her mother. Jazz knew there wasn't time to hide silently, so she took a few silent steps back and tried to look like she had just innocently arrived home from school… that was kind of what she was doing anyway, school was over, about two hours ago and all… they had been checking off places they had looked for Danny at Tucker's house, as he had the ghost zone map digitised on his computer. But what Jazz saw emerge from the lab door wiped all thought of the ghost zone from her mind… Her mother emerged, sullen faced, carrying Danny in her arms… and it was Danny in a state Jazz had prayed she would never see him in… he was terrible… blood-strewn, beaten, and he had a defeated, pitiful sort of air about him as Maddie walked past the silent, horrified Jazz. Neither of them said a word… Maddie just took him upstairs, sniffing once or twice. Jazz couldn't think… her mind drew a blank for once…  
"Jazz, is she there… what's wrong?" Sam whispered, sticking her head in the door. Jazz looked at her, tears welling in her eyes. She swallowed, trying to find her voice. "Danny… he's… back…" was all she could manage in a small voice. "WHAT? Where? How?" said Tucker, bursting through the door, looking around as though he expected to see Danny standing there in Phantom form with a few bruises and a cocky grin, making some witty remark on how they shouldn't have worried. But Danny was not there, and one look at Jazz's face told him there would be no cocky grin…  
"W-where is he?" Asked Sam a little shakily, coming into the house and closing the door. Jazz could only point to the stairs. Tucker led the way, Sam not far behind, and Jazz came last… unsure she could actually face the sight again…  
When Tucker reached Danny's open bedroom door, he froze, his mouth hanging open slightly. Jazz's face had told him this would be bad… but he could never have imagined just how bad…he didn't even know how to react… he just stood there, staring, unable to really comprehend that that was Danny… lying there…pale and broken…  
Sam walked slowly into the room, over to Danny's bed, where he lay, lifeless. His mother sat on the other side, silent tears streaming down her face as she ran her hand through Danny's unkempt black hair, biting her trembling lip. Sam sunk to her knees by Danny's bed… no… he couldn't be… this wasn't happening… not Danny… not dead…  
Sam actually gasped when his face twitched, in either pain or from a nightmare… but he WAS alive… he was as pale as he was when in Phantom form, Sam had thought he must be-… but she was more relieved than ever to see she was mistaken. Tears ran down her face, both from relief, but also in grief, and fear… She slowly reached over and put her hand on Danny's… it was not cold as she had expected, but slightly over-warm… Sam didn't really notice it… she was anxiously contemplating the same thing Jazz was, who stood by Tucker, her hand on his shoulder.  
Danny had returned… but had the Danny they known returned? After all this…was the Danny they knew still lost in the ghost zone, never to return?


	7. Chapter 7

Danny was running, but he wasn't getting as far as he should have. It was as if the faster he went, the more the world resisted his movement, until he was paralysed… bound… he couldn't get there… He couldn't save them. The mixture of Vlad, Dan and Sylvester Screech floated over him and cackled evilly. "You have failed Daniel! You cannot fight it anymore, you will become me and there's nothing you can do to stop it!" Danny looked over at the Nasty Burger, but it was destroyed, up in flames, they were all gone, he had failed… Danny let out an anguished howl… he was Wulf now. He sprang at the mixed horror above him and his vision was obscured by pink ectoplasm.

Danny awoke with a start, covered in perspiration. He did not sit up. He wasn't sure where he was for a moment… but then the memories of the dream were replaced by the memories of the recent events… Danny blinked groggily, forcibly shoving the memories back; he didn't want to think about them just now. He winced as his head throbbed. Judging by the light in the room, it was morning. Danny was unsure just how long he had been out, but judging by how sore he was, it could only have been that night that he had…

No, he wasn't going to think about it… but how could he not, when his mother's furious face kept crossing his mind just before he thought of the pain she caused him. Danny looked wearily to the window and swallowed the lump in his throat. He heard others moving about in the house… but not the usual thumping steps of his father.

Danny sat bolt upright as he suddenly remembered the phone conversation he had overheard his mother having, Dad was on his way to Vlad's… oh no… Vlad would use the opportunity to kill him… Jack was armed against Ghosts, but he wasn't armed against what he thought was his old friend.

Danny sat up quickly and swung his legs over the bedside. He stood up, but almost immediately sunk back onto the bedside. He grasped his head. The pain was blinding, and his knees shook terribly. He only just discovered how weak his ordeal had left him. But weak or not, he had to stop his father, he would take the specter speeder if necessary… Danny tried to change into Phantom form. Surely he had the energy at least to travel in ghost form… but his rings sparked wearily as they slid up his body, and he felt even this small effort drain him. As soon as he was changed, his head span dangerously, and he reluctantly changed back again. "Oh no…" he moaned, his head in his hands. There was nothing he could do. And he was feeling dizzy again. He had to lie down. He cursed his weakened state and stared morosely at the ceiling. How could things get any worse?

"Danny?" came a soft female voice from the door as it creaked open. Danny tried to sit up again, but only managed to get to his elbows, still holding his throbbing head in one hand. Jazz entered the room, looking at him anxiously, though she seemed to be trying to hide her anxiety with a small grin, which she was trying very hard not to lose. Behind her, Sam and Tucker poked their heads through the door. "Hey" Danny croaked in a very raspy voice, also trying to smile but only managing a grim half grin. Sam, unexpectedly, flew to the bed and threw her arms around Danny, all the while talking frantically. "Oh Danny you're OK, you scared us so much, we couldn't find you, we looked everywhere in the ghost zone and…"

The only response Danny could make was an almost whimpering 'ow…'

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry…" Sam said, releasing him and blushing furiously. Danny smiled very weakly and rubbed his chest, also realizing that his face had flushed red. Jazz came over to him and helped him sit up against his bed-head. The three quickly realized just how energy drained and helpless he was.

"Dude… what HAPPENED to you? Where were you?" Tucker asked in confusion, looking more concerned than ever.

Danny still had a hand to his head. Any movement seemed to set off the throbbing and he waited a bit for it to dull before he tried to answer.

"I was… captured… by this weirdo called Silvester Screech… he kept me hostage in a lab and…" The memories made Danny shudder. "I couldn't transform and escape, I couldn't even use my powers, they had put these cuffs on my neck, wrists and ankles…" remembering these also made him notice the stinging burns were the cuffs had been. He absentmindedly rubbed his neck and found it was bandaged. He looked at the rest of his open injuries to find they were also bandaged. "What did they do to you?" Sam asked shakily, almost nervously. "The cuffs? They shocked me every time I tried to use my powers…"

"No-no, I meant…what did they do to you, the ghosts; did they just, keep you locked up?" She corrected. "Oh…" Danny said, shifting his gaze and lowering the hand from his neck. "They… locked me up… the cell was kinda small… they had Wulf there too for some reason, but I didn't see him, I just heard him… we were…" Danny swallowed hard. He didn't know why it was so hard to tell them what had happened to him… he hated to think about the things they did, to remember what he was put through, it felt almost humiliating now. Danny took a deep breath and realized he was rubbing his inner arm… it had not been bandaged. It was starting to itch as well as ache. Danny looked down at it. His eyebrows shot up a little; it looked like it was bruised black and green. "Oh my gosh, Danny, what happened here?" Jazz said anxiously, noticing the bruise as he did. Before Danny could hide it, she took his arm and held it out. Danny yelped slightly at her touching the cuff burn, which stung even under its bandages. Jazz gasped, "Danny! You've been injected with something… Is that what they did? They did tests on you? Oh Danny…" Jazz wrapped her arms protectively around him, making him wince again, but he didn't have the energy to push her away. He sighed and tried to avoid their gaze. "I was a Lab rat. They did tests on me… something about Screech thinking I was needed as part of his research… I'm not sure what for, but Wulf was a guinea pig too…" Danny glanced up to see his friend's reaction, and on a closer look suddenly realized Sam's eyes were red like his mom's had been. She had been crying over him? Danny's face burned again.

"But, if you had those cuffs on, how did you escape?" Asked Tucker, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen momentarily from Danny revealing what had happened to him. "It's a long story," Danny croaked, his voice getting worse from even this small amount of use. "Maybe you should tell us later, you need rest. Anyway, we need time to make something up to tell Mom and Dad…" Jazz said. "Dad!" Danny exclaimed suddenly, tensing, remembering why his stomach was writhing with dread, "he went to Vlad's alone! We still have to stop him before…"

"Woah! Danny, calm down! It's ok! Dad's already on his way home, Mom called him and he turned around to come back. He was only just at Wisconsin, so your timing was pretty good" Jazz tried to reassure him, holding his shoulders and peering into his face. He was definitely worse than he had ever been after a ghost attack before… but he let out a sigh of relief and collapsed back against the bed head and pillows. He still looked troubled however and stared morosely at his feet. "I feel so useless… the first thing I tried to do was get up so I could go and stop Dad getting to Vlad's, but I… I can't even stand up… I hate being so weak." Danny said very quietly and bitterly.

Tucker couldn't bear to see his best friend so despondent. He had to say something. Tucker put his hand on Danny's shoulder and felt it tense automatically at his touch… a testament to just how much of an effect his torture had had on him. "Dude, you can't be strong all the time. Everybody has their weak moments."

Danny looked up at him, a little surprised, and a smile of gratitude pulled at the corners of his mouth, though his eyes still told of the unspoken pain within him. He couldn't tell them what was eating at him the most… it was not what he had suffered in the ghost zone… it was not his own hopelessness… it was what he had suffered at the hands of his own mother after everything else, when he had finally thought he was safe and had instead found himself at the worst point of the entire ordeal. He had forgiven her, of course he had, but he couldn't stop thinking about it, and it didn't stop wrenching painfully at his insides.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. The others jumped, but Danny swallowed, knowing exactly who was on the other side of the door. Was he really ready to see her? To speak to her? "Come in" he said, his voice shaking, something Jazz noticed acutely.

The door creaked open, and in came Maddie carrying a tray with breakfast and a tentative smile. Danny found she looked so different to when she had as she tortured him that It was easy to push the memories to the back of his mind and think only of how she had cared for him, bandaging his wounds while he was unconscious, laying him so carefully in his bed, accepting without question that he was half-ghost and not freaking out about it. Danny also found it much easier to genuinely smile at his mother when she set down a tray of food in front of him. He had not eaten in at least four days now and he was starving. "Hi sweetie… are you feeling alright now?" she asked softly… almost as if she were a little scared of how he might react. "Yea mom, I'm better. I'm ok sitting down, its just if I stand up or move too fast my head hurts and I get dizzy… but this will help" he said, trying to sound bright. She seemed a little relieved by his reaction, but still had an air of anxiety and worry about her.

Danny tucked into the food, savouring the pancakes with an expression of bliss. "Wow… I guess they didn't feed you anything good in the cells huh?" Sam said with a little smile at Danny's expression. "They didn't feed me at all" Danny shrugged shortly with a mouthful of pancake. "Woah, dude, are you serious? Man id be crying with happiness if I were you, I can't go ONE day without food…" Tucker exclaimed. "Eh, I'm crying on the inside" Danny half joked, though part of him cringed internally for uttering something that was so deeply true.

"Uh… would you three mind, just giving me and Danny some privacy… I need to ask him about some… things…" Maddie said awkwardly. Danny glanced up at her and realized what it was she was worried about discussing in front of them. Though he was also a little scared of what else she might want to discuss that Danny did not want to re-visit. He swallowed an overly large amount of food, which went down painfully, but he ignored it and said, " Don't worry, mom. They know. These three are the only other humans who do… there are a lot more ghosts…"

All four of them stared at him a little shocked. Danny decided a quick and vague explanation was needed to satisfy his friends and sister. "I had to tell Mom. She was the one who found me when I made it back, she managed to get the cuffs off me in the end." He said shortly. He couldn't tell them the real events… it was still too painful for him to even think about, let alone discuss, and it wouldn't be fair on his mother to reveal what she had done… she seemed ready to burst into tears, but she managed to hold it back. "Oh… wow… Mom… you're taking it better than I thought you might…" Jazz said dumbfounded. Maddie's mouth crept up in a small sad smile. "Well of course I am honey… what did you think I would do? You're my children, I love you, no matter what." Danny wanted to reply… but his throat felt tight and he couldn't think of the right words, so he merely smiled at his mother before continuing to eat his breakfast.

"Ssso… what did you want to know?" Sam asked a little awkwardly, thinking Danny's mom would probably want a run down of the details of how Danny became half ghost and what his powers were and how he used them, most of which they could answer for him to let him finish his breakfast and rest his throat.

"Well… for starters, I suppose… how did it happen?" she asked, moving to sit on the end of Danny's bed.

"It happened the day you tested the ghost portal for the first time. It didn't work, but Danny showed it to us when you were gone, cause we nagged him to. I told him to take a look inside it. He suited up, went in, and … as far as we know, he pressed the switch to turn it on that you guys must have forgotten. Danny got-"

"Caught in the initial plasmic field shockwave! Oh my poor baby, why didn't you tell me when it happened!?" Maddie exclaimed, jumping over to Danny's side and throwing her arms around him. Danny's eyes widened in surprise and he let out a muffled yelp of pain through his mouthful of egg on toast. Danny automatically went intangible in reaction to the sudden pain it caused in his head and his mother gasped as her arms closed around slightly distorted air where her son had been moments ago. She jumped back and Danny re-appeared, quickly swallowing his mouthful and rubbing his throbbing head. "Sorry… force of habit" he muttered sheepishly.

"…And when he came out of the ghost portal… he was half ghost… we're not sure exactly how it happened… but that's how Danny Phantom was born, and he's still with us so we're fairly sure the change is permanent." Sam explained. All Maddie could do was nod and resume her seat at the end of Danny's bed. She frowned a little. "I still don't understand… you're the ghost boy… but surely… you're not like him, Danny… he… you… the things Phantom has done… you'd never do that? Attacking people? Committing crimes? Danny, you haven't been abusing your powers have you?" She asked with deep concern and fear. Danny frowned. "No! Of course I haven't! I didn't do any of that on purpose… it's more complicated than that," he said in a voice torn with frustration. It was not directed at her, but it was not doing his already strained voice any good. "Mom, you rely too much on what the media reports", Jazz picked up for Danny. "Danny has a lot of enemies, they always manage to set him up, but Danny's intentions have always been for the greater good. He uses his powers to defend the city from malicious spirits that escape the ghost zone. In all fairness, he's really under-appreciated" Danny's face burned with Jazz's comment. "What sort of powers are we talking about here?" Maddie asked. Tucker was such a geek, he had already brought up all the stats he had on Danny stored in his PDA and he read his list out. "Intangibility, ghost rays, supernatural flexibility, force-fields, overshadowing, ghostly wail, duplication, although that's only worked occasionally, aaand ice powers, which were a recent discovery…" Tucker said matter of factly. Maddie sat with her jaw open and blinked a few times. "Wow… Danny Phantom is more powerful than I realized… how many other ghosts have you found with all these powers?"

Danny set down his mug of coffee a little harder than he intended. "Just one… and I suppose now it's about time you knew." Danny said, his tone hard and cold and face set as he looked at his mother, who was slightly surprised by his expression.

"The Wisconsin ghost, Vlad Plasmius. A.K.A, Vlad MASTERS. I'm not unique. He was a halfa before I was even born…"

Maddie gasped, "Vlad? A… Halfa? As in, half ghost?… how is that possible!?"

"It happened when you guys were in college. The first time you tested the first small scale ghost portal, it didn't just give him ecto-acne and turn his hair white, it changed him the same way it changed me, he's been half ghost all these years, and he's been perfecting his skills by using them to get rich. If you ask me the fact that he has money and power but not the love of his life is what's made him such a crazed up fruit-loop."

Maddie sat and blinked at him for a few moments. "You mean… nooo… he didn't get rich just to try and win me over, did he?"

"Got it in one." Danny replied, spearing the last pit of toast on his fork and gulping it down. " And usually every attempt he's made at trying to win you over has also involved him trying to murder Dad, which inevitably ends up with me fighting him. And you don't even want to know what lengths he's gone to try and win ME over… and replace me… and blackmail me…"

"Well you DO have to give him SOME credit Danny, he did help you out with Pariah Dark, he does have some good in him..."

"Yea, but that was AFTER he RELEASED Pariah in the first place! Anyway, all he did was put the key in casket, I had to do all the actual fighting, AND he took the Ecto-Skeleton if you remember, the thing you later beat me up in?"

"Oh come on Danny You're not still mad about that are you?"

"OK, HOLD IT! WHAT on earth are you two talking about? Vlad black mailing you? The ghost king? The ecto-skeleton?" Maddie looked at them both with her mouth open and an incredulous expression, "you can't be serious?"

Danny and Jazz looked at each other and back to her. "A lot has happened since I got these powers mom… It may be a while before you find out everything that's happened."

"Well…for now, can we stick to Vlad? That might at least let me know what it is I almost sent Jack into…" She said in a worried tone.

Danny bit his lip. He was trying to think of what he should tell her, but the memory of her first reaction to telling her his father was in danger from Vlad kept flashing across his mind. It seemed so strange, that she believed him readily now, but before his transformation, her mind had been set only on how to prove he was a lying ghost… Danny felt a slight constriction in his chest.

"Danny, are you feeling ok?" Jazz asked, peering at him concernedly.

"Danni." He said, snapping out of it.

"Yea, you, you sure you're feeling ok?" Jazz repeated, a little more worried.

"No..." Danny said shaking his head, but he stopped quickly and put a hand to his throbbing head, "Danni as in Danielle… you know, my 'cousin' Danielle," Danny explained. "Oh… you never really explained that one to me…" Jazz replied.

"But you don't have a cousin called Danielle…" Maddie said frowning in confusion.

Danny smiled a little. "No, I know. She just told me she was when we first met. It turns out she's actually a female clone of me, so she's more of a sibling…" Danny stopped to try and let his gaping mother recover from the information. He gave her five seconds, but as she didn't make any comment, he continued bemusedly.

"She was created by Vlad. His fruit Loop-ness has been getting progressively worse. This particular incident involved him spying on me for months to make a clone of me". "But…" Maddie finally interjected, "if he was your enemy, why was he trying to make a clone of you?"

"Ah, see, that's where the REAL craziness comes in. Vlad wanted to clone me, but he would be able to manipulate the clone. It would be his son, because I wouldn't agree to be the son he never had with you, and in perfecting the clone, he could then dispose of me. And i'm sure you could figure out the rest from there… except, he went through a lot of failed experiments before he got a good clone. Danielle was one of those experiments. He couldn't stabilize them because he didn't have a sample of my DNA 'mid-morph'. In the end, his plan failed because Danielle turned on him. The good clone was destroyed, Sam and Tuck managed to save me, and now Danielle is still running around out there somewhere. If she uses her powers too much, she'll destabilize and turn to goo, but I think she's smart enough to avoid that…"

Danny stopped his explanation, as Maddie seemed to be off in her own little world with all the information she had just absorbed. Her eyes were glazed over and staring distantly at the wall over Danny's head.

"Dude, is your mom still with us or what?" Tucker asked. Jazz waved a hand in front of her mother's eyes and Maddie seemed to snap out of it. "So… wow… Vlad is smarter than I thought… all that clone work would have taken him over a year to perfect… and you destroyed it?"

Danny stared at her incredulously. "Uh, yea, because he was trying to clone me so he could kill me and then use his clone to influence you into ditching dad and marrying him, I thought you picked up on that much…"

"No no, it's good, i'm glad you destroyed it… but… you know… thinking about it… I could probably stabilize Danielle, if you could get her here…"

Danny perked up, "you could? Really?"

Maddie smiled with a cool expression, "sweetie, anything Vlad can do, I can do better. Why do you think he liked me so much in college? Plus, i'm really quite interested to meet the female version of my half ghost son…Every mother wonders what their child would be like if they had been the opposite sex."

"Well, I don't think she'll come as much of a shock Mrs. Fenton, She likes everything Danny does…" Tucker said. "Yea, she acts like him, eats like him, has the same lame sense of humor…" Sam added. "Yea, yea, very funny, give it a rest" Danny said rolling his eyes. "Hey, we get wailing privileges for saving you and your twin's behinds" Sam retorted, which Danny had to concede with a sigh. "Save you? What was Vlad doing to you?" Maddie suddenly said, a hint of anger in her voice. Danny was not as concerned about the ordeal as she was. "Well, he kidnapped me from school, then held me captive and had to try and force me to transform so he could get a mid morph sample, because obviously I wasn't going to just oblige easily. He used a machine first, but I overloaded it. He tried to get Danielle to overshadow me and force me, but she turned on him, and then I had to use my ghostly wail to destroy the lab. But once I had, I couldn't use my powers. See, my ghostly wail is really powerful, but it totally drains me, and Danielle couldn't defend me, cause using her powers would destabilize her. It was actually perfect timing that Tucker and Sam crashed down into Vlad's lab and knocked him out."

"Yea, that was why me and Sam ditched school and busted up the specter speeder that time, and then we got back and we were in trouble for saving Danny from a maniac."

Tucker added, feeling a need for justification on the matter, even if Danielle had got them off scot-free.

Unfortunately, he did not get the apology he craved, as a loud sound downstairs announced Jack Fenton's arrival. "HONEEEY, IM BACK!" came his booming voice echoing up the stairs.

Maddie's expression changed slightly, as though she was suddenly a lot more worried at his arrival than relieved. "Would you three mind giving me and Jack some time alone with Danny?" She tried to ask the others casually, but there was something odd in her voice that Jazz couldn't explain. She supposed, as she nodded and ushered Sam and Tucker out (not before Sam threw her arms around Danny in a quick hug before she hurried off, blushing), that Her mother was contemplating how they were going to break the news to her Dad. Jazz hadn't been sure weather Maddie had said anything over the phone or wanted to tell him in person, but she was convinced Maddie would do it face to face. And it seemed, as she passed her father on the stairs, that she was right. As usual, she grinned to herself.

Danny's expression and attitude changed like his mothers the moment the others left the room. What would happen now? Would his mother tell Jack what he was? Doing so would result in him putting together the pieces, he would know what she had done to him, they had talked on the phone about it, he wasn't a complete idiot, he'd know straight away… and what would he say? Danny could just imagine it; he and Maddie would fight. Danny couldn't stand being the cause of his parents having a major row. And even though the time when he thought they were getting divorced was a complete misunderstanding, he was still extremely paranoid… and this was a whole lot more serious than his Dad forgetting their anniversary. He doubted Dad would speak to his mother if he knew she had tortured Danny and threatened to kill him.

Danny began to panic. He looked at his mother's face. She was gazing at the door, looking as nervous as Danny, but something in her expression suggested to Danny that she was steeling herself to telling him… Danny couldn't allow it… he WOULDN'T allow it.

Jack came bounding up the stairs and into Danny's room. "SON! You're alright! I knew you'd fight your way out, no ghost kidnaps a Fenton and gets away with it!" He said jovially as he picked Danny up bodily in a bone-breaking hug. Which Danny would have appreciate it did it not send his head spinning and throbbing. His standard response to such physical contact was no different than it had been about three times already. "Ooww" he breathed, screwing up his eyes against the mixed signals drumming in his head.

"Jack, be careful! He's in a delicate state!" Maddie said anxiously. Jack put Danny back on the bed with surprising gentleness. Danny clutched his spinning throbbing head and tried to steady it, once again cursing internally his weakened state. "Woops… sorry Danny… its just such a relief to have you back, and i'm sure you'll be back to your old self in no time". Jack said grinning confidently. Danny smiled weakly but sincerely. He looked up into his father's face to find a softer expression than usual… and what was more, his eyes were shinning in a way he hadn't seen since… since that time with the reality gauntlet that he'd found out about Danny's powers… but he couldn't possibly know about them now…

"So…" Jack said as he sat down on the end of Danny's bed opposite Maddie, "how DID you get back?"

Danny swallowed. Maddie took a deep breath.

"Honey, you know how… how I had the ghost boy?… And I was questioning him?"

Maddie started shakily. "Yea, you said you were using the specter stinger, But when you said Danny made it back on his own over the phone I assumed you destroyed the ghost kid." Jack answered casually, if not a little disappointed that he hadn't been there for the ghost kid's apparent destruction.

"Well… not exactly… see..."

"The Ghost Kid was helping me!" Danny piped up suddenly. Maddie looked at him, too stunned to say anything, so Danny kept going, despite the fact his father frowned at this new revelation. "Yea, he… he was trapped in the same place I was… and when he escaped, he set others free too… but we all ran different ways, and I managed to get out and hide… it was only when I was sure the guards weren't still searching that I made my way back. I convinced mom to let Phantom go because he helped me escape." Danny said, using the half lie he had told his Mother the previous night. The thought of it made him cringe inwardly, but he put on a fake grin for his dad. His Dad seemed so busy trying to comprehend that the ghost boy was responsible for saving Danny that he wouldn't have noticed if Danny had been pulling any kind of face. "Wow… and here was I thinking that ghost kid… Phantom you say? I thought he was evil… then again… I suppose he did help me that one time the Wisconsin ghost was trying to steal the portal…" Then Jack hung his head and suddenly looked concerned and aggrieved, "though perhaps it would have been best if I HAD let him… this wouldn't have happened." He sighed. Danny had not expected this. He was gaping at his father, and his mother was gaping at him. "I'm sorry Danny… its my fault this happened… I should start dismantling the ghost portal tonight…" he made to stand, not looking at Danny. Danny blinked and tried to find his voice, but his mother got there first, "You're right Jack. We've had trouble with having that portal before… we lived a dream, but the cost has been so high. I'll help you Dear. Danny, you should get some rest, and you won't have to worry about anything like this happening again…"

"NO!" Danny shouted, and both his parents stopped and looked at him, startled. Danny hadn't meant to burst out like that, but he was terrified. He knew his mother might try to tell his father the truth if they were alone… and apart from that, The Ghost portal couldn't be taken down… it just wouldn't be right… Danny wasn't sure why, but it would feel wrong… there were ghosts in there that posed a threat, sure, but there were friends in there too, friends who had helped him out of very tight spots, he couldn't just cut them off. "You can't take it down, it's been your lives work! You barely got to study it properly, there's so much you could discover in there… I don't want o deny you that, just cause I'm such a lousy ghost hunter that I couldn't fight off a couple of crazy specters!" He said, his breathing faster and just a little panicked. Jack blinked. "You're… you're sure you don't want us to take it down? But Danny… what they did to you… look what those damn filthy ghosts did to you!" His Father said, bewildered. Danny's tone became a little pleading, "Not all ghosts are bad! Phantom helped me, and the stuff i'v seen in there… you guys worked so hard to find it, and now you have it, I don't have the right to take that away from you… I just need… to learn how to defend myself… you could teach me to fight ghosts." Danny said. He couldn't quite believe what he was saying. Especially since he was the one who could teach his Dad a thing or two about ghost fighting…

"If it really means that much to you Son… then thank you…" Jack said, his face splitting into a grin as he came over and wrapped his arms around Danny again, this time tears even leaked from the corners of his eyes. His hug was surprisingly tender and Danny barely flinched. "Thanks Dad"

"And don't worry Danny, when you've recovered, I'll teach you all there is to know about ghost fighting. No ghost will even DARE come near jack Fenton's son again!" He let go of Danny and kissed a stunned Maddie on the cheek. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm just going to go grab some breakfast. I haven't eaten in two hours and I'm STARVING!" And with that he clumped his way out of the room and down the stairs.

Maddie closed the door behind him and turned to Danny, who's grin faded.

"Danny… why did you…"

"I had to Mom… it's between you and me. If anyone else finds out, if Dad knows… it'll get complicated, there'll be fights, I don't want to be the cause of all that…" He cut her off quickly, his voice low and strained, cracking again. Maddie went over to the bed. "Danny this isn't your fault! It's my fault, and I should deal with the consequences, and I…" But she couldn't finish their conversation, because Tucker and Sam returned with a pack of playing cards. Maddie bit her lip and ran a hand through Danny's hair. They exchanged a look, and Danny was at least satisfied to know it meant she wouldn't tell Jack the truth… if only for his sake, she would uphold the lie. And the thought of doing so, she had to admit, was a bit of a relief.


	8. Chapter 8

Danny ran a hand through his hair in frustration again. It was dusk and he was sitting at his computer desk, pouring over at least three open books. He would write something down now and then before putting his pen down and running his hands through his hair or rubbing his temples. There was so much work to catch up on, and he just couldn't seem to focus. The information seemed to be swimming around in his head, but in a disorderly jumble, so he couldn't use it. He couldn't concentrate on what he was reading either. He would read a line over and over and still not manage to comprehend it's meaning.

He couldn't afford this, he had to get this work done, and it had to be done right, or Lancer would fail him. He desperately did not want to repeat a year. But the stressing out about it made it even harder… and what was more, he always had that distracting niggling anxiety somewhere at the back of his brain. It was driving him mad. He tried once more to read the second paragraph in his History book, but sighed and gave up in failure. He rested his elbows on the table and stuck his face in his palms, eyes closed. He put pressure on his temples with his forefingers. It also didn't help that he had a nagging little headache he couldn't seem to shake off.

Danny's thoughts began to drift. He had a horrible vision of Lancer failing him. Tuck and Sam where in the grade above him, they didn't want to hang with him as much. No one in the year below who he had joined respected him. He was a laughing stock, and now Dash's prime target. He was running down a hallway, and Dash was chasing him with a Lasso. It got around his neck and Danny struggled, choking. Dash cackled like Sylvester Screech. Danny looked up; his mother was standing over him. He was strapped to one of Screech's test tables. Danny called for his mother's help, but she merely smiled and held something up in her hand. Danny saw it was one of the remotes for the collar and cuffs. She pressed the button…

"Danny?"

Danny Jerked out of his sleep, breathing hard and drenched in cold sweat. He had fallen asleep… that had been a dream… or more, a confused replay of memories, mixed up in his head like the work he was trying to do.

"Danny? Are you ok?" it was Jazz. She came into the room and peered at him anxiously. Danny looked around quickly, running a still bandaged hand through his totally messed up hair distractedly. "Yea, I'm fine… just fell asleep… bad dream…"

He said shortly, trying to compose himself.

"Oh, ok… well, Mom told me to come get you, dinner's ready… I'll tell her you're coming." Jazz said, peering at him with concern.

"Thanks". Danny said. She left the room; seemingly satisfied he didn't have a fever or something.

Danny was not as phased by the dream as he might have been otherwise. He had been having similarly themed nightmares every night now. He didn't get much peaceful or restful sleep. Which was probably also not helping him with his work. Danny stood, wiping the sweat off his face with his sleeve. He limped over to his dresser and picked up a brush. He ran it hurriedly and un-attentively through his hair, ignoring the pangs of pain when he came across knots. He glanced in his mirror and frowned slightly. He looked sickly, there were bags under his eyes and he needed a haircut. He sighed and put his brush down. He would have to try and get an early night. But if he had insomnia like he had last night, it wouldn't do him much good.

He sighed heavily and limped over to the door. He could smell meatballs as he made his way towards the kitchen, and sure enough, when he got there that's what his mother was dishing out onto the five plates arranged around the table… wait, five?

"Err, mom, why are there-"

"Hello Daniel. Good to see you're back. And I hear you've been keen to catch up on your study." Danny turned around to see none other than Mr. Lancer enter the kitchen from the Living room, led by Jack. He was smiling in the stern way only a teacher can, but his expression seemed to change and soften slightly when he saw Danny's face and noticed how ill he seemed. All Danny could do was blink in bewilderment.

"Sorry sweetie, I forgot to tell you, we invited Mr. Lancer over for dinner to discuss helping you catch up." His mother explained kindly as she finished dishing up Dinner and they all sat down. "Yea, and we have to discuss the kinds of Ghost protection we'll be sending you back to school with, and the stuff we're going to install at the school, to guard against any more spectral kidnappings!" Jack exclaimed jovially as he sat at his usual place and started his dinner. Danny plonked himself down in a chair next to Jazz and exchanged a glance with her. She gave him a cautiously optimistic grin and knowing look. Mr. Lancer sat down on Danny's other side. Danny felt awkward and was very conscious of trying to eat neatly. It was hard, because he was hungry, and would have liked nothing more than to wolf down the delicious meal before disappearing to his room again. Apart from anything, he had been craving red meat since he got back, and he was torn between keeping track of the conversation, savouring the meal, but also eating without looking stupid doing it.

"So, Daniel. Your Mother and Father have told me about your ordeal. How many of these ghosts exactly did you say kidnapped you?" Lancer asked him, trying to be casual. Danny hastily swallowed his mouthful of mashed potato. He frowned slightly, "Uh… well… I didn't get much time to count… but, I'd say there was about 20."

"U-huh… that seems like an awful lot of ghosts just to capture one person." Lancer said, again trying to sound more casual and less skeptical.

Maddie looked nervously to Jazz and they both looked expectantly at Danny, who was still frowning. "It's not like I didn't try and fight them. And they're ghosts, I don't know how great they are at math. It didn't take them long to knock me out." Danny replied, a little annoyed, but his voice had dropped a little on the last few words. There was a pause as everyone continued eating politely… except Jack… who was eating as eagerly as ever, blissfully unaware of the tension around him. Danny continued to eat daintily, having the distinct impression he was under interrogation.

Lancer continued to enjoy his meal like any polite guest would before he suddenly shot another question at Danny, this time with a blatantly suspicious air.

"What was it like in this… 'Ghost zone'?"

Danny put down his knife, resigned to explaining himself to Lancer. "Its Cold, dark, there are lots of doors hanging in the middle of nowhere, chunks of debris from I don't know where just floating around, and buildings and stuff… ghost dwellings... "

"Right. And how did you find all this out if you were knocked out?" Lancer asked crisply with a smile, as though he had caught Danny out.

"I saw it all when I escaped and I was finding my way back." Danny replied calmly before he took a mouthful of sliced carrot and ate it calmly.

So Lancer thought he was lying, and he was trying to catch Danny out by making him slip up in his story. Danny wasn't surprised, nor was he worried, but he was annoyed. He hoped Lancer was not going to dig too deep, because there were some questions he just didn't want to answer… like

"Why exactly did they kidnap you, did they mention what their intentions were?"

Danny groaned internally. Here we go.

"They wanted to do tests on me." Danny said shortly, playing with his mashed potato distractedly. "They were scientists, these ghosts. The leader… his name was Sylvester Screech. He said something about me being important to his research. And they had kidnapped others… but the others were ghosts. We were locked up. I didn't know the others were there until Danny Phantom broke us out. We all split up and when I got out, I hid until the guards at the scientist's lab stopped looking near where I was. Then I made my way back…"

"But you were knocked out when they took you there, how did you know the way back?" Lancer asked smoothly, again determined to trip Danny up. Danny merely forced himself not to roll his eyes and replied "I didn't, but one of the ghosts who had been imprisoned by the scientists too helped me. We ran into each other. His name was Wulf." Danny finished his sentence resolutely with a mouthful of beans, which he chewed with great determination. Lancer was silent for a moment, but Danny was aware that he was staring at him. Probably trying to think of another means to catch Danny out. Just as he seemed to happen upon an idea and opened his mouth, Maddie cut him off. "Mr. Lancer, if you think Danny is lying, you should just come out and say it."

Jack finally looked up, bewildered. "He thinks Danny is lying?" He said, sounding non-plused and a little incredulous. Lancer put on a gracious demeanor. "Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, I know you are particularly specialized in the field of the Paranormal, but seriously… a 'Ghost Zone'? Ghost scientists kidnapping a 14-year-old boy for some kind of ghost research? And Daniels apparent ability to return to us so suddenly from another dimension… I'm sorry, but this all seems a bit far-fetched to me. And as you know, Daniel has been struggling at school. Some teenagers cannot handle the pressure of high school if they are not mature enough for the year grade they are learning at. It's a common occurrence that such teens will simply run away from these problems, and in many cases they regret it and try to make wild stories and excuses to cover their mistake and avoid trouble." Lancer said coolly. Danny was now frowning at him, knife and fork down and half eaten dinner forgotten.

"Mr. Lancer, the existence of the ghost zone is quite irrefutable and far from a 'wild story'. If you'll remember when the ghost king attacked Amity Park the entire town was taken into the ghost zone." Maddie said, unable to hide the fact that she was slightly riled herself.

"Be that as it may," Lancer continued, unfazed, "Daniel could easily be using it as an excuse, the perfect means of covering up his absence… a trip to the ghost zone where he was conveniently locked away by ghosts who wanted to use him as an experiment. A few bandages and a poor appearance, many parents would be so distraught they might not want to believe it was only an act to stay out of trouble."

That was it. Danny had had enough. Lancer was reminding him forcefully of Maddie in his last interrogation, unwilling to believe what was true without irrefutable proof. And Danny was going to have to give it to him.

"Mr. Lancer, look at this, and you tell me I'm lying. Tell me they didn't do it to me, because I'd like to believe you…" Danny said frustratedly, roughly pulling the bandages off his left wrist, exposing the still very raw looking, painful burns the cuffs had left on him. Lancer stared at it with a look of total shock. The silence stretched on until Danny, whose expression was unrestrainedly surly, re-wrapped the bandage over his wrist. Lancer it seemed was totally lost for words. And personally, Danny hoped he was squirming with embarrassment, he found a vindictive pleasure in Lancer's discomfort. He had dug himself quite a hole to lie in, and Danny wasn't about to throw him a lifeline.

Jazz went back to eating pleasantly as though nothing had happened, also pleased with Danny's having shut Lancer up. She was certainly not impressed with his approach to the situation. He would make a terrible guidance counselor.

Eventually, Jack saved Lancer from his pit of shame by bringing up the topic of ghost defense in the school. Lancer talked sheepishly the rest of the night and carefully didn't look at Danny, who ignored him and concentrated wholeheartedly on his dinner. Ignoring Jazz and his Mother's attempts to make eye contact with him, Danny finished his Dinner. But before he could disappear upstairs the way he had planned, his mother brought up a topic he had actually been meaning to ask himself before he had even known Lancer had come.

"So, Mr. Lancer, when do you think it would be ok for Danny to go back to school?"

Danny was scraping his scraps into the bin, but he stopped to listen.

"Well, Mrs. Fenton, I think that's up to you and Daniel. When he feels well enough to come back, that will be just fine. He won't have to worry about any of the missed assessments, I'll schedule some extra lesson time and give him work equivalent to what he's missed." Lancer replied politely, apparently still trying to make up for his earlier false accusations. Danny stayed for desert, only to hear what kind of protection exactly his father was planning on sending him to school with. Most of it was standard… specter deflector, Fenton Fisher, Fenton Flares (a new invention designed to blind and disorientate ghosts for about five minutes so they could be captured… something Danny had made a mental note not to use unless he wanted to incapacitate himself) and of course an ecto-gun, which Mr. Lancer was a little more concerned about. It wasn't too long before Lancer left. He seemed a lot less keen now to hang around long, which Danny was not sorry for.

Danny retreated to his room. So he could go back to school whenever he felt well enough… that would be as soon as possible, he decided. He closed his door and limped across his dark room to his window. The only source of light in his room was his computer screen, the Fenton-works sign outside and the slim sickle moon. Danny went to close his window against the slight chill breeze blowing in. He looked up at the feint moon on the horizon. A sudden, violent pain stabbed his insides. Danny grasped his stomach with a small gasp of pain. But as soon as it had come, the pain receded.

What was that about? Danny wondered. But as the pain did not return, he shrugged it off as his body telling him it was tired of red meat.

Danny tried again to do some History work, but his mind still refused to be forthcoming with information, so he gave up and turned to bed early. He got to sleep surprisingly fast, and although it was long lasting sleep, it was anything but peaceful.


End file.
